The descendants of agents of Josef Stalin’s secret police have asked the government to close down a newly opened database giving information about 40,000 of the agents, who are directly responsible for the murders of about 1 million Soviet citizens during the dictator’s Great Terror.

A handful of the descendants have written an open letter to President Vladimir Putin, himself a former agent of the Soviet KGB, asking him to close down the database, Russian media reported on November 27.

The database was created by the respected Memorial human rights foundation and is the first of its kind to provide detailed information about the perpetrators of Stalin-era crimes.

The descendants justified their request by saying they fear "that the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren [of the agents] might be the targets of revenge for the sake of repressed ancestors."